Thursday, December 2, 2010

Freedom of speech (but not if you are a Catholic public school student)

Daniel Glowacki, a 16-year-old junior at Howell High School in Howell, Michigan, has unexpectedly found himself at the center of a national firestorm and the target of homosexual activists across the country, including national lesbian TV host, Ellen DeGeneres. It came about when he defended another student’s free speech rights, and when confronted by his pro-homosexual teacher, Daniel ended up defending his Catholic faith that considers homosexual conduct a sin.

The incident occurred on October 20, 2010, the day that Daniel’s economics class teacher, Jay McDowell, wore a purple “Tyler’s Army” t-shirt as part of a national campaign to highlight the alleged “bullying” of homosexuals. McDowell was taking part in a national Anti-Bullying Day promoted by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. To further promote this national pro-homosexual agenda, McDowell was planning to show the class a video concerning such “bullying.”

Ironically, McDowell ended up “bullying” his own student who dared to defend his Christian beliefs about homosexuality.

When McDowell ordered a student in his classroom to remove her confederate flag belt buckle because he was offended by it, Daniel pointed out the teacher’s obvious hypocrisy: the teacher can promote a message and an agenda that might be offensive to students, but students can’t wear clothing that expresses a message that is offensive to the teacher.

When asked by McDowell whether he supports his activist agenda, Daniel responded that as a Catholic he does not. The outraged teacher angrily threw Daniel out of his classroom and gave him a written referral for his answer.

According to news reports, written statements by students in McDowell’s class indicated that McDowell told them, “If the student was Catholic, he’d be or should be in Catholic school” and followed him into the hall yelling he was a racist.

Predictably, homosexual activists across the country are hailing McDowell as a hero and vilifying Daniel and his family, describing them as “bigots” and referring to Daniel’s religious objection to the homosexual agenda as “hate speech”. McDowell is head of the school district’s teachers union; unsurprisingly, the Michigan Education Association, the state teachers union, has come to McDowell’s defense.

Dozens of students and teachers packed a school board meeting to protest the two-day suspension of McDowell. One student, a 14-year old openly gay student who supported McDowell at the Board meeting, appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to discuss his speech. Subsequently, a digital media company rewarded the student with a $10,000 academic scholarship.

As a result of this public pillorying for standing up for his religious beliefs, Daniel and his parents have retained the legal services of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. TMLC is representing the family at no charge.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of TMLC, commented: “Rather than teach the required economics curriculum which he is paid to do, McDowell used his position of authority to promote his homosexual agenda at taxpayers’ expense. There is no question that he violated Daniel’s constitutional right to freedom of speech. But this case illustrates much more. It shows the pernicious way in which homosexual activists have turned our public schools into indoctrination centers, and are seeking to eradicate all religious and moral opposition to their agenda.”

Continued Thompson: “It’s time that parents stand up to the slick gimmicks used by homosexual advocacy groups to promote a dangerous and immoral lifestyle to our children under the guise of tolerance. School districts should fire any teacher who uses class time to advance such a deadly lifestyle.”

Today, TMLC’s Senior Trial Counsel, Robert Muise, sent a Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the School District, requesting various district policies as well as other documents related to the October 20th incident. [Read a copy of the FOIA request here]